Monday, July 27, 2009

After making Fire and Smoke Chicken, I had some leftover rice. There's only one thing to do with leftover rice, you know.

Now, lots of people know how to make fried rice, so I may not be enlightening anyone. But, I do make pretty good fried rice, and I can share with you a few of my tactics.

1) This is the most important one of all: you must use old rice. I'm talking about rice that has been cooked, cooled, and sat in the fridge for a minimum of one day, but preferably for a few days. Something happens to the rice. It gets hard and dry, which sounds awful, but makes for good fried rice. Trust me on this one. Never, ever use fresh rice.

2) Cook it over high heat and keep it dry. I just add a little Chinese cooking wine to soften things up once I've added the rice. You could use broth if you liked that better. Just use restraint. I think a lot of fried rice is soggy.

3) Don't rely too heavily on soy sauce for flavor. Use lots of veggies and bacon if you eat bacon, and salt and pepper. I only add a little soy sauce at the end. If you add too much, it turns the whole dish a weird tan.

4) If you're using an egg, scramble it in a separate pan and fold it into the rice at the very end.

That's it! The beauty of fried rice is that you can use whatever you have at hand. If you've been reading this blog, you know that's kind of my style. In general, I use the following things, because I pretty much always have them on hand: carrots, celery, onion, garlic, ginger, bacon, egg, frozen peas, Chinese cooking wine, and soy sauce. Oh, and make sure to fold in the peas right toward the end so they don't get mushy.

I love making fried rice with leftover jasmine rice. Yours looks awesome with all these colors. Check my shrimp version at http://www.phamfatale.com/id_87/title_Shrimp-Fried-Rice-Cantonese-Style-Fried-Rice/

What I really enjoy about your blog is the homeyness of it all. Reading your missives is like reading a letter from an old friend. Nice writing! What I like about your recipes is the simplicity of them. Everything seems easy and sounds so good. Thanks loads for sharing.